


Making it Official

by HiddenTreasures



Series: Family Unit [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Family, Fluff, Kid!Fic, Marriage Proposal, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 14:30:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7109179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenTreasures/pseuds/HiddenTreasures
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James finally gets a night alone with Rose to ask her the question he'd been burning to ask for weeks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making it Official

This was it. The big day. The day James Wilfred Noble was going to ask Rose Marion Tyler, the love of his life, his very best friend, to marry him, and to join her little family. He was terrified.

He’d had the ring for weeks, but could never work up the nerve to actually give it to her, much to Donna’s annoyance. But now he finally had a Plan, and by the end of the evening, if everything went wonderfully, he would be engaged to the most beautiful, most perfect woman in the universe.

James had arranged everything so that they would have the night alone. Donna was going to take little Mattie along to see a production of _The Lion King_ that a local theatre club was performing, and would keep the almost six year old—(yes, that distinction was necessary…ever since James had taught her the fundamentals of rounding numbers, the little girl insisted she “rounded up” to six, though her birthday wasn’t for another two months)—overnight to give her mum and James a bit of privacy.

“Are you excited for tonight, darling?” James asked, sliding into the booth beside Mattie with a heaping banana fudge sundae.

“Yeah!” Mattie said excitedly, immediately shoveling a spoonful of the cold treat into her mouth. “ _Lion King’s_ the best!”

“That it is. And you’ll get to spend the night with Josh and Ella. That’ll be fun, eh?”

James made idle chitchat with Mattie for a while, until the bowl was nearly empty.

“You know, this is where I met you and your mum for the very first time,” he said conversationally, gesturing to the mostly-empty diner. “You might not remember, you were still a bit little. But your mum was working and I was sitting here studying. In this very booth, actually. And this little toddler toddles up and starts playing peek-a-boo. That’s you, by the way. And we played for a few minutes until your mum came over to see what the strange man wanted with her daughter.”

Mattie nodded slowly to his story, brow furrowed as she tried to follow his train of thought.

“You know I love your mum very much,” he said softly.

“Mhmm,” Mattie said, licking off the last bit of fudge from her spoon before tackling her chocolatey fingers.

“And-and when two people love each other, sometimes they, well, sometimes they want to get married,” James said in a rush.

“Oooh, like Belle and the Beast, when they got their happily ever after?” Mattie asked excitedly.

“Yep, just like that,” James said with a fond smile. “And, well, I was wondering if that would be okay with you? If I, y’know, if I asked your mum to marry me. Would that be all right, Mattie?”

Mattie stared at him unblinkingly for several seconds, and James started to fear that she wouldn’t want him to join her family on that level of permanence.

“Does this mean you’d be my daddy?”

It was James’s turn to stare. His palms went clammy even as his heart soared.

“Well, uhm, that-that’s something your mum and I would need to discuss…”

“Oh. Don’t you wanna?”

James’s heart broke at the desolation he heard in the five—no, sorry, _almost six—_ year old’s voice.

“Oh no, darling, no,” James said quickly, wrapping his arms around her and tugging her into his lap. “It would be an absolute and extraordinary honor if I could be your dad. You know I love you very much, as though you were my own daughter. But your mummy and I would need to talk about it, to see if that’s what she wants. Because she might not even want to marry me.”

“Why wouldn’t she?” Mattie asked blankly, and James suddenly loved the bluntness of children.

“Well, let’s hope she does,” James said softly, pressing a kiss to Mattie’s hair. “I’ll be asking her tonight, while you have fun with Donna and Josh and Ella. Speaking of, we’d best be off.”

James cleaned Mattie of the chocolaty mess she’d made of herself before he dropped her off at his sister’s. He made to beat a hasty retreat, but Donna pulled him in for a hug.

“I’m not gonna say good luck, Space Man, because I know she’ll say yes,” she whispered into his ear. “Lord knows why, though. Skinny streak of nothing, you are. Manners of a three-year-old, too. Dunno what she sees in you.”

James chuckled at the familiar ribbing, and his nerves started to settle once more. He held his sister closer and whispered, “Thanks, Donna.”

He made it to his flat with nearly two hours to spare before Rose was due home, and he  tidied up his flat before he started dinner.

He cooked her the same meal they’d shared on their first date: a creamy chicken-veggie penne, complete with salad and garlic bread and Rose’s favorite brand of wine. He was thrilled when she recognized the parallel.

“Just like our first date,” she said brightly, beaming at the spread of food on the table.

They’d gotten through dinner, and dessert, and several glasses of wine, but the ring was still firmly tucked away in James’s pocket. As the meal progressed and he still couldn’t work in a proposal, James’s anxiety deepened.

He knew Rose had caught onto it, of course she had, the brilliant woman. That was when she’d pushed back from the table, her chocolate cake only half-eaten, to turn on the stereo and ask him to dance. He took her hand gratefully, and held her close as they swayed from side to side, letting her close proximity soothe his fraying nerves.

“I don’t know what’s been wrong lately,” Rose said softly, resting her head on his chest as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “But I know something’s had you all twisted up. Just know that you can tell me anything, yeah? Whatever’s wrong, whatever’s bothering you, we’ll get through it together.”

“Better with two,” he whispered into her hair, quoting what she’d said to him when they made up after their first major couple’s argument.

“Better with two,” she affirmed, pressing her lips to his neck.

“Rose Tyler,” he said tenderly, pulling back to look down at her. “These last three years, three months, and thirteen days with you have been the very best of my life. You and Mattie make me feel more complete than I’ve ever felt around anyone else. I love you both so much, more than I ever thought possible. And, well, I was just wondering…how long are you gonna stay with me?”

“Forever,” Rose whispered, tracing her fingers across the contours of his face as she squinted up at him in a combination of fondness and confusion.

“Then would you do me the incredible honor of making that official, and becoming my wife?”

He finally plucked the little velvet box from his pocket. He flicked it open to reveal a platinum ring with a sapphire set in the center flanked by two smaller diamonds.

Rose’s face went blank as the light danced off the gems and glittered in the tears in her eyes.

“J-James?”

“Marry me, Rose?” he asked softly, willing the trembling in his hands to stop.

“Yes,” she whispered, as a tear dripped down each cheek. “Oh, my God! Yes!”

Rose flung her arms around his neck, half-crying, half-laughing, as James picked her up and spun her around. He stifled his own giggle-sob into her neck, and he was sure his poor heart was about to burst right out of his chest from sheer joy and elation.

“I love you,” he whispered into her ear before setting her on her feet.

He took her left hand from around his shoulders and held it delicately in his own. He brushed his lips across her knuckles before freeing the ring from its velvet enclosure to slip it onto her finger. He let out a breath when he saw it fit perfectly.

“Oh, this is beautiful,” Rose said, bringing it up to eye-level.

“Not as beautiful as you,” he said, still grinning.

“Cheesy,” Rose snorted.

“You love it,” James cajoled, winking obscenely.

“I really do,” Rose said, cupping her hand around the back of his neck to pull him in for a kiss.

The kiss was gentle and sweet, and tasted salty from Rose’s tears. James angled his head and squished his nose against her cheek to deepen the kiss. He sighed against her mouth when her tongue probed along his lower lip.

He opened his mouth for her and shivered when her tongue traced the sensitive ridges along the roof of his mouth, before retreating to better suckle at his bottom lip. He groaned when her teeth scraped against his lip while her nails raked through his hair and against his scalp.

James wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her closer, wanting to feel every inch of her and wanting her to feel how much he wanted her.

“Bed?” he murmured between kisses, his lips moving restlessly against hers and he sucked and nipped at her top lip.

“Please,” she whispered, rolling her hips against his.

Just then she tugged his hair just so and rubbed against him just right that the bedroom suddenly seemed too far away. They were eternally glad they had the flat to themselves where no little eyes could see them, and no little ears could hear them, as they made sweet and tender love to each other for the first time as an engaged couple.

oOoOo

The next morning, just as James was about to plate a pile of eggs and toast for his fiancée (oh, how he loved that word), he heard the front door open.

“Mummy, Mummy, Mummy!”

Mattie tore into the kitchen, nearly bouncing in her excitement as she looked between Rose and James.

“Did you say yes, did you say yes?”

Rose grinned widely at her daughter, and at Donna who was leaning against the door with barely concealed anticipation. Rose raised her left hand and wriggled the finger than now housed a new ring, and both Mattie and Donna squealed.

“Yay!” The little girl rushed forward and jumped into her mother’s arms as Donna grabbed her brother in for a hug.

“Congratulations, Space Man.”

Mattie then wriggled off her mother’s lap to run for James’s legs. He scooped her up and spun her around before settling her on his hip for a hug.

“Told you she’d say yes!”

“Quite right,” James murmured, pressing his lips to Mattie’s temple.

“Speaking of, how did she know you were proposing?” Rose asked curiously.

James felt his cheeks go warm as he set Mattie on the ground.

“Well,” James said as he turned around and pretended to tend to the now-cold stack of toast. “I couldn’t very well ask to join your family without first asking Mattie if she’d be okay with it, could I?”

James heard the legs of a chair scrape against the floor just before he felt a pair of warm arms wrap around his waist, tugging gently to get him to turn. He did, and saw fresh tears in Rose’s eyes.

Before he could panic, Rose lifted herself to brush a soft, sweet kiss to his lips.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“So is James gonna be my daddy now?”

Rose and James sprung apart, and James felt his cheeks flame again, this time in shame. He’d completely forgotten to ask Rose what they—he—would do regarding Mattie.

They both stuttered for an answer, until Rose finally knelt down in front of Mattie and said, “Well, sweetheart, that’s something he and I would need to discuss. See if he’d be okay with it.”

“Yes,” James said immediately, needing there to be no doubt in Rose’s or Mattie’s mind of his love for not only Rose, but for her daughter.

Rose stood stiffly, and turned back around to face him, tears once more brimming in her eyes. Blimey, engagements were supposed to be happy affairs, and here he’d gone and made Rose cry throughout most of it.

“You’d really want that?” she asked softly. She looked him directly in the eyes, studying him closely. “To adopt her as yours?”

“It would be my genuine honor,” he said thickly, swallowing the lump in his throat.

Rose gave him a slow, watery smile before launching herself at him. He caught her and held her close, rocking her as she sobbed into his shoulder.

“I love you,” she whimpered into his shirt. “I love that you love her… Her own father didn’t even… Oh, I _love_ you!”

“I love you, too,” he whispered, hugging her tight. His heart ached at the reminder of Mattie’s arsehole of a father, but he couldn’t help be grateful for her arsehole of a father, because he allowed for James to enter Rose’s life and family.

“Ehem.”

The couple sprang apart at Donna’s not-so-subtle interruption, cheeks reddening as they remembered they weren’t alone.

“I think someone’s waiting on an answer,” she said from where she was crouched and rubbing Mattie’s back.

“Would you want that, sweetheart?” Rose asked, moving to squat in front of her daughter.

Mattie nodded as she whispered, “I never had a daddy before.”

“You will now,” James said softly. He knelt down beside Rose and opened his arms to the little girl that looked near-tears. Mattie immediately ran into them. “I promise. I love you, darling.”

Mattie sniffled into James’s shirt and clung to him tightly as he stood, wrapping her little arms and legs around his shoulders and hips. James swayed from side to side and rubbed her back, whispering soft shushing noises into her ear. He looked over at Rose and saw her swiping at her own fallen tears, and James opened an arm for her, too.

Donna smiled at the new family for a few moments before she caught James’s eye. She smiled brightly at him and gave him a thumbs-up before she quietly showed herself out.

James watched his sister leave with a heart fit to bursting with love for the two people he held in his arms.

“I love you,” he whispered into Rose’s hair, pressing his lips to her head before dropping a kiss to Mattie’s. “Thank you for accepting me into your family.”

“You idiot,” Rose mumbled thickly. “You’ve already been part of our family for years. Never needed official paperwork for it to be true.”

James squeezed them both closer for a moment, before he eased them out of the embrace. He set Mattie on the ground and turned back to the long-cold breakfast spread.

“Dunno about you, but I don’t much feel like cold toast,” he mused. “Anyone up for a celebratory breakfast out? My treat?”

“Yeah!” Mattie squealed, running towards the front door for her shoes.

“Sounds lovely,” Rose said, standing up on her tiptoes to brush her lips across his. “Thank you. For everything.”

“No, Rose Tyler,” he said warmly, drawing her name out in a way he loved and knew she loved, too. “Thank _you_ for everything, and for many more things to come.”

 


End file.
